Thoughts, flavors, art, and more..

I doodled..

Doodling is often unfocused drawing made on a paper. I have often looked at doodling as fun, and do it all the time, or if I am in deep conversations over the phone. I have always felt that doodling relaxes my mind from all stress. I keep a pocket journal handy to just doodle. It has helped me through a lot of tough times. Finding a quiet space to get my doodle done is more like meditation to me.

The sketchbook I posted about in the last post, was misplaced during my trip to India, and I recently found it. I wanted to do a few sketches in it and just to do a quick one I doodled. This time I used a sharpie pen instead of the micron. I always find it difficult to use a micron on a watercolor sketchbook. I prefer watercolor sketchbook because the pages don’t deckle or soak or tear easily unlike regular sketchbooks. I should say, I liked the effect that I obtained with the sharpie pens. It was one of the best doodle effect I have had so far. I love doodling flowers and adding colors to a few of them, preferably, watercolors.

A few months ago I was in a session when I felt completely lost and didn’t follow anything. While I was searching for a way to be attentive again, I had a blank page on which I started scribbling <call it doodling>, and it turned out to be a pretty one. The best part about that doodle is that it was done with absolutely no concentration on creating the doodle itself. Here is that little doodle from a few months ago.

It is not perfect, but I love this doodle. This technique helped me stay tuned to whatever I was doing, when I felt unfocused at work/classes. A couple of weeks later, I doodled another just before going to sleep. That was magical too. It has since then come to give me a perfect relaxation phase between tired work phases. I love each and every doodle that I do, since it is from my subconscious, unlike paintings.

The first two doodles were done with a 0.3mm black gel pen, and I loved it as the ink flowed. I got a set of colored gel pens in the 0.25 mm to 0.3 mm thickness,and started doodling every now and then. I kept handy a small Visual Journal to make sure I have a perfect space to organize all the doodles.

Strathmore journals are somehow my favorite, since they give the flexibility and they are affordable. I usually stock journals as I find them in the store with discounts, so Strathmore with discounts add to the fun. I started doodling in my Strathmore 8.5′ x 11′ journal, and this time using a fine tip Sharpie. Sharpie actually made it more fun, giving me the flexibility to move around, unlike the teeny 0.3 mm gel pens. While I favorite both the writing instruments, I prefer using a sharpie pen on a watercolor paper, because of its ease of use and bold lines. I tried one and I loved it. Here is the first journal page with black and white doodles.

Black and white doodles are clean, and give you a good perspective of how you started your work, while adding color to them makes it a lot more fun. So next time, I tried to fill an entire journal page and make it colorful. It is by far the most attractive page in this art journal of mine. I love flowers and leaves, and most of my journals have been a mix of flowers and leaves, and attractive yellow and pink shades. I colored my second journal page after doodling, and I found the end product average. I wanted to highlight the colors further and the magic of black background did it.

I loved the outcome of a colored journal page. I have done doodling earlier but it never struck me that I can keep doing this forever without even thinking about it. This time, the plethora of ideas and colors and mediums to doodle, makes it a very attractive journalling idea. More to come every few weeks!